Private sector pay awards hold at 3.5% in March – IDR
The proportion of pay awards worth 4% or more increased, rising from 16% in February to over one fifth in the latest sample.
Median pay awards in the UK private sector have remained stable at 3.5% for the three months to March 2026, according to the latest data from Incomes Data Research (IDR).
The proportion of pay awards worth 4% or more increased, rising from 16% in February to over one fifth in the latest sample.
This has pushed the upper quartile slightly higher, from 3.7% to 3.8%.
The same trend reflected across the wider economy, where the median also held at 3.5%.
Most pay settlements, around 63%, continued to fall within the 3.0% to 3.99% range, although this share has declined slightly compared to previous months.
Sector-level data showed variation beneath the headline figures.
Private services saw a modest increase in pay awards, with the median rising to 3.5%, driven in part by higher settlements in retail.
In contrast, manufacturing and production outcomes remained unchanged, with a median of 3.5% and a stable interquartile range between 3.0% and 3.8%.
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